Feral pork, bullfrog meat, dandelions and more on menu at 'locavore' meal targeting invasive species

Environmentalists in Oregon are doing their part to help the state battle invasive animal and plant species that do an estimated $120 billion in damage each year throughout the country.

With the help of chefs competing at a recent cook-off event thought up by the Institute for Applied Ecology in Corvallis, who prepared a tasty meal including feral pork, bullfrog meat, dandelion greens, Himalayan blackberries, Japanese knotweed and much more, environmentalists are encouraging “Eradication By Mastication” to help so-called locavores keep non-native species from taking over, reports the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.).

The legal rules can be complex—commercial production of feral swine is illegal in Oregon under public health law, but not neighboring California, for instance. However, cooperative officials made the meal possible—the pork used in the recent cook-off was checked for parasites and prepped in a U.S. Department of Agriculture facility.

“It’s hard to underestimate the damage feral pigs can do to range and agricultural lands,” Rick Boatner of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife tells the newspaper. “They can tear up crops and rangelands overnight.”